(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a jumpseat, and to a vehicle provided with the jumpseat. In particular, the vehicle may be an aircraft, possibly an aircraft of the rotorcraft type.
(2) Description of Related Art
For example, an aircraft may include a jumpseat that is used by a crew member. A jumpseat may sometimes be arranged between a cockpit for a pilot and a cabin for passengers.
The term “jumpseat” is used to mean a folding seat that makes it possible to increase the number of seats in temporary manner while leaving empty space at other times.
Such a jumpseat comprises a movable seat pan enabling the space occupied by the jumpseat to be minimized when it is not being sat on. The seat pan may be moved from a single position referred to for convenience as the “sitting” position to a position referred to as the “retracted” position. The seat pan is thus positioned in the sitting position in order to enable a person to sit down, and in the retracted position in order to reduce the space occupied by the jumpseat.
Certain jumpseats are not compatible with stringent certification regulations, in particular in terms of withstanding a crash.
Other jumpseats are not ergonomic and present a kinematic that is complicated in order to move the jumpseat from the retracted position to the sitting position, and vice versa.
Documents EP 0 170 116 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,030 describe a jumpseat that has a seatback and a seat pan. Furthermore, the jumpseat includes a mount that is fastened to a wall of a vehicle.
The mount comprises a vertical arm and a horizontal arm.
The seat pan is movable in rotation relative to the seatback between a deployed position that is horizontal and a retracted position that is vertical. A first spring tends to position the seat pan in the vertical retracted position.
Furthermore, the seatback is hinged to the vertical arm of the mount. The seatback and the seat pan are then movable together in rotation between a utilization position and a stowage position that tends to place the seat pan against the wall. A second spring tends to place the seatback together with the seat pan in the stowage position.
In order to redeploy the jumpseat, the seat pan and the seatback are then moved into the utilization position by turning through 90 degrees relative to the wall. Thereafter, the seat pan is moved from its vertical retracted position to its horizontal deployed position by turning through 90 degrees relative to the seatback. Under such circumstances, the horizontal arm receives and supports a portion of one edge of the seat pan.
Document EP 0 170 116 thus describes a jumpseat that can be put into a single sitting position. Specifically, the jumpseat is in this single sitting position when the seatback is in its utilization position and when the seat pan is in its horizontal deployed position.
Document EP 2 583 897 describes a jumpseat similar to that type of jumpseat.
Document WO 96/17743 describes a jumpseat for a vehicle, and referred to as a folding seating unit. The jumpseat can be folded flat and sideways into a retracted position under a window. The jumpseat can be arranged behind decorative side panels without masking the windows or obstructing a loading zone of the vehicle floor.
The jumpseat comprises a seat pan that rests on an outer bent tube hinged to the wall of the vehicle and an inner bent tube resting on the floor in a sitting position. A retraction mechanism causes the inner bent tube to be folded automatically against the seat pan when the seat is tilted towards its retracted position.
Documents CA 2 791 173, FR 2 980 773, and EP 2 574 551 describe an aircraft jumpseat including a frame. The frame carries a headrest, a seatback, and a seat pan. The frame is mounted to pivot relative to a structural upright by means of a hinge assembly having two hinges. The jumpseat can then be arranged in three positions.
In particular, the jumpseat may be put into a first position in which it closes an aisle, the seatback being perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the aisle. A person sitting on the jumpseat can then face only towards the front of the aircraft.
Furthermore, the jumpseat may be put into two other positions, the seatback then being substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the aisle in these other two positions.
Document EP 2 484 589 describes a jumpseat having a seatback and a seat pan hinged to the seatback.
The seatback slides laterally on rails in order to be placed in a retracted position within a seatback, and in order to be extracted from the seatback into the sitting position.
The above-described jumpseats thus do not enable a person sitting on the jumpseat to face either towards the front or else towards the rear of the aircraft as so desired. Furthermore, those jumpseats do not include crash protection systems to make them “crash-worthy”.
Document FR 2 863 558 describes a seat having a seat pan and a seatback.
Document FR 2 863 558 is remote from the field of the invention and does not relate to a jumpseat.
Document US 2014/319275 is also known.